Transatlantic Trade and Global Cultural Transfers Since 1492 by Martina Kaller Frank Jacob

Author:Martina Kaller, Frank Jacob [Martina Kaller, Frank Jacob]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780367784652
Google: E84dzgEACAAJ
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Group
Published: 2021-03-31T01:37:08+00:00

Some years later, as a result of the new 1931 convention to limit manufacturing and regulate the distribution of drugs, a measure which represented the first step towards controlling coca leaves by international bodies, the League of Nations requested a report from the Argentine government, which the Buenos Aires authorities passed on to the six provinces of NWA.

Only the province of Jujuy responded, presenting an account in which coca was considered a ‘tradition’ and not a ‘drug addiction’. The person in charge of the report was a young doctor from Jujuy, Carlos Alvarado (1904–1986), later a distinguished health advisor. In the 1850s, a doctor would have fallen into total discredit had he been seen chewing coca. As Mantegazza wrote in 1870:

I myself as a physician – considered, that is, high on the list in the hierarchy of public servants – have not been able to escape the tyranny of prejudice, always having to use coca in the greatest secrecy. God forbid that a patient should see the incriminating wad [il bolo tradittore] in my mouth! I would be forever done for in terms of public opinion.62

However, by the time Alvarado sent his report in 1931, the etiquette among physicians had changed:

After sending my report, I continued to work on the subject and discussed it with elderly and renowned doctors from Jujuy of that time… . Later I went to Salta to work on the subject with other distinguished doctors from that province… . All of them agreed with my opinions and all, or nearly all of them, also chewed coca and were never attracted to cocaine – except for doing local anaesthetics.63

This change happened as a result of a merging of the following processes, explained briefly:

a) It can be said that a cultural situation prevailed in which members of the socially dominant no longer fear being confused with members of the lower classes due to their consuming of coca. That is, a new disposition of ethnic boundaries had developed.

b) A new way of interpreting the gaucho tradition had an influence. Gauchesca literature had been developing since the 19th century and, by the beginning of the 20th century, the elite were ready for a new approach to this heritage, and they initiated a new tradition. In the face of a huge working class of Italian immigrants, this elite re-signified the gaucho figure as a counterweight to this immigrant population. The prime example of this change is the attitude of Leopoldo Lugones (1874–1938), the poet and essayist who in 1906 wrote La guerra gaucha (The Gaucho War). This chronicle glorified the fight of the gaucho militiamen of Salta, headed by General Güemes during the war for independence against the regular Spanish army of Alto Perú. Lugones was from Córdoba but lived in Buenos Aires, but Dávalos’ literature shows a local NWA variant of the attitude expressed by Lugones.

c) We must also take into account the presence of cocaine in the nightlife of the large cities like Buenos Aires, Córdoba, and Rosario. Many tangos illustrate the

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